A Babord 1, Masculinists 0

A large cloud has been lifted from over the head of Quebec’s largest alternative magazine and one of their contributors.

After over a year, the case brought by Andy Srougi from Fathers-4-Justice against A Babord magazine and feminist activist and writer Babara Legault has been dismissed.

Srougi sued the magazine and Legault for defamation after Legault metioned Srougi by name in an article entitled “Des hommes contre le féminisme” (Men Against Feminism). Legault’s piece dealt with the rising problem of ‘masculinist‘ movements in Quebec, which blames women for taking too much place in society and, as an effect, discriminating agains the needs of men and boys. Srougi’s group Fathers-4-Justice is known for their protests against what they say is a tendency of the courts to grant custody to mothers over fathers – which is a common complaint among masculinist groups.

The victory is an important one because a lawsuit of $25,000 could very well have sunk the magazine which relies premarily on volunteers and a very small budget. Even more so, it’s a vindication of Legault and the magazine in their fight against sexism and to bring to light troubling trends in society at large.

4 Responses

Men’s rights groups are growing for a very good reason. Radical feminism has shifted the pendulum too far to the left in favour of females in the Family Court System. We assert
equality when it comes to parenting not inequality as it now stands. The figures speak for themselves. In 95% of custody cases females physically have the children. Only in 4% do the dads.

Mike, you are not only right, you will be ostracized for saying what you have said. We have gone so far with the “men are wrong” mentality, we now not only take fathers’ children away from them routinely, we take men’s money, peace of mind and dignity away in the divorce courts, almost automatically favoring the female in divorce.

I’m not going to argue the numbers with you because they are what they are. But the point of Barbara Legault’s criticism, and I think it is a fair one, is about what you wrote in your first post, Mike. That the reason for the numbers is because of ‘radical feminism.’

When the large majority of judges are older, white men – the exact demographic that is not radical feminists – blaming women in general and feminists in particular for your grievances just doesn’t hold water too me. If anything, I believe that it is the stereotypical gender roles that men have worked to enforce, largely to their benefit, in the past that is now coming back full circle.

For generations the idea was put forward that men are good at going out, working, and providing monetarily for the family, whereas the mother was good at staying home and caring for the children. If people have learned over the years that this is how the world works, it starts to become clearer why courts accord custody to women. If anything, we need to listen more to feminist thinkers and social critics – both men and women – who are questioning how we perceive both men’s and women’s role in society and the family.